For the third weekend in a row, IU split its weekend matches, winning the first while dropping the second.
IU came out victorious against Wisconsin on Friday afternoon but failed to get in a groove against No. 36 Minnesota, ultimately falling 5-2.
IU Head Coach Jeremy Wurtzman partially attributed the loss to Minnesota to the short travel time from Madison, Wisconsin to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Wurtzman also mentioned the match beginning outside until the weather turned poor and the remainder of the match being played inside.
“Once we went inside, the fans got really loud,” Wurtzman said. “It was tough for us to shift gears midway through.”
Just like Wurtzman said, the alteration turned out to be crucial. The Hoosiers proceeded to struggle after going inside, going down 2-0 and never being able to climb back into the match.
IU lost three of the last four individual games down the stretch.
Despite the weekend ending on a sour note for IU, it did get a much-needed win over a struggling Wisconsin team Friday afternoon.
The Badgers rallied from 2-0 down to tie the match, but the Hoosiers pulled away to go on to win the match.
“It was a great start to the weekend,” Wurtzman said. “When it’s at their place, it’s never easy to come away with the win.”
One of the bright spots throughout the weekend and the season was freshman Vikash Singh, who joined the team in January from India.
Singh has quietly made himself known this season after winning his eighth match of the year against Minnesota.
He has been consistently in the rotation for IU this season and he looks to be one of the players to look forward to in years to come.
Singh and IU will return to action next weekend for a date with Nebraska on Saturday, as well as Iowa and Saint Louis University on Sunday.
This will be the first time all season IU plays three matches in one weekend.
